A unique quiet reliable golf club having a Clean Burning vortex generator capable of varying the degree of kinetic energy applied to driving a golf ball in a linear fashion, without swinging the club. The striker piston and cylinder are disposed within the golf club head casting that contains a silencing chamber to lower the db output level. The striker piston is propelled outward by a firing mechanism releasing kinetic energy to fire a cartridge. The cartridge injects burning gas pressure into a vortex generator, located at the breech end of the cylinder. The vortex generator eliminates unburned gas and disperses the gas according to a desired distance setting of a ball travel distance scale. The one piece striker piston is sealed with a piston ring and is movable on a hard-coat cylinder-bearing surface that eliminates lubrication for the purpose of driving a golf ball in a new sport played by non-golfers.
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1. A non-conventional, ballistic impeller golf club, comprising: a one piece golf club head casting, with a center line bore containing a cylinder, whereby said casting and cylinder positioned between two “O” rings forming a silencing chamber within said golf club head casting, whereby said golf club head casting and said cylinder, are locked together by means of a through stop pin, thereby forming a rigid attachment for said cylinder, where said golf club head casting also has an attached golf club handle assembly, that provide a means for firing a rim fire cartridge selected from a plurality of cartridges contained in a plastic strip that includes a sealing means to a cylinder inlet port, located at the breach end of said cylinder, where said cylinder comprises, a vortex generator, that directs an expanding gas flow from said cylinder inlet port, into a plurality of vortex generator armature inlet ports, thereby providing a means to vary the distance a golf ball will travel, as well as effectively burning unburned powder granules expelled by said rim fire cartridge, eliminating, powder residue, from forming on a solid constructed one piece bearing-less said striker piston contained in said cylinder, restrained by a urethane spring, acting as a brake, riding in a urethane spring housing of said striker piston, providing a means to absorb the excess kinetic energy after striking said golf ball.
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1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of golf clubs, specifically to a gas vortex generating linear adjuster for a mechanical golf club.
2. Background Art
The recreational sport played on a golf course utilizes many types of golf clubs with varying face angles. Generally golf clubs are swung in an arc starting above the users head. This creates a club face velocity that imparts kinetic energy to the ball positioned on the ground or a tee. A shorter arc traveled by the club results in the transfer of less kinetic energy thereby varying the distance the ball travels. A key element of playing the game requires' controlling the precise direction and distance the ball travels along the course of play. Many users find playing the game of golf extremely challenging or unable to participate. To that end, many prior art attempts have been submitted to overcome this problem.
Clark disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 769,939 issued Sep. 13, 2004 a means of adding additional energy imparted to the ball by the release of energy stored in a mechanical compressed spring. Driving the ball occurs by swinging the club head in a downward arc contacting the ball thereby triggering the energy release. The practical success of this concept was limited since most of the difficulty occurred by a swing error due to a heavier club and user proficiency. Additionally the ball compression energy release, the club head mechanical spring energy release and the club head velocity kinetic energy release will not result in the sum of the three sources and thereby, not providing any improvement.
Celestin discloses in French Pat. No. 1,181,539 issued Jun. 15, 1959 a golf club that uses an explosive charge to add additional energy to the club head velocity created by the user swinging the club. The club design apparatus being heavier is likely to cause an errant swing failing to trigger the device. Improved performance in driving the ball would be poor because the compressed energy in the ball would not occur at the precise instant the explosive charge occurred.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,357 issued Oct. 9, 1979 to Greer also employs an explosive charge designed to add kinetic energy to a golf ball when detonated by a swinging motion of a club face. This approach is not helpful for the same reason as that of a patent by Clark. Swinging a club with the added weight and hitting a sweet spot detonator to add explosive energy to a ball being compressed with kinetic energy is extremely difficult. The stored energy sources will not release simultaneously, thereby failing to solve the problem. The preceding patents require the user to swing a club, which is difficult even under conventional circumstances by a proficient user. Therefore the very problem the patents attempt to address and improve is defeated by the very means utilized.
The prior art issued Jun. 4, 1996 to Taylor et al discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,594 a golf club designed to impart kinetic energy upon a ball without swinging a club. Instead it is placed in a static position adjacent to a ball waiting for an impact by a striker plate being actuated by an explosive charge. The Taylor invention includes a hollow head containing a piston attached to the shaft portion of an external strike plate that seats into a recess in the retracted position. A rod is guided in and out of the hollow head through a bushing-bearing located on the clubface. The explosive charge contained in a cartridge holder fitted into a slot that positioned the active cartridge above an orifice in the holler head. A handle with a holler shaft that contains a trigger device with a firing, pin rod extended into the holler head designed to fire a cartridge releasing high-pressure gas into a holler head when the user actuates the trigger, thereby imparting kinetic energy upon the ball.
There were many problems with the Taylor invention that resulted in poor performance. The tremendous force caused the strike plate return spring to deform and the piston to detach from the rod of the strike plate. The high pressure gas failed to burn completely leaving a residue that caused the piston to jam after a few cycles. The bushing bearing used could not be lubricated since lubrication jells when combined with burned powder. The hollow head being made of aluminum failed to withstand the wear factor. The cartridge holder being shaped with a flat surface failed to maintain an adequate seal thereby releasing high-pressure gas, thereby reducing the kinetic energy produced. Aside from the poor performance there were no means to adjust the ball travel distance.
Another prior art issued Oct. 6, 1998 Taylor attempt in U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,927 failed to achieve a clean complete powder burn resulting in parts jamming. Attempt made to adjust the distance of the ball travel failed because most of the high-pressure impulse of energy was dissipated on the top of the piston before reaching the port designed to decrease the pressure. This invention provided a hollow head fitted with an internal cylinder containing a piston and rod attached to an external strike plate. This patent did not address the piston rod bearing lubrication problem. The means taught by Taylor, failed to change the distance the ball would travel in any fashion. The high-pressure cartridges were contained in ducts around a wheel circumference and fired by a firing pin protruding through a hollow shaft into the head assembly. The fired cartridges discharged into the center of the wheel, thereby passing through an injection port in the cylinder. The cone shaped center of the cartridge wheel fail to maintain an adequate seal, thereby allowing high-pressure gas to enter the adjacent cartridge ducts causing failure. The huge amount of volume between the top of the piston and the top of the cylinder created a premature drop in pressure thereby causing an incomplete powder burn which fouled the piston after a few cycles of operation. The retractor means design attempt failed to retract the piston because the pressure volume required for the retracting action did not exist. The attempted buffer spring failed to be reliable. The head casting structure proved to be impractical, costly and difficult to manufacture. Also the associated parts failed to withstand the dynamic operating pressures involved, namely the retraction concept, the tilt safety proved to be costly and impractical.
The present invention features a golf club head with an attached handle assembly, designed to impart kinetic energy on to a golf ball without swinging the club. The kinetic energy is developed by burning high-pressure gas and is adjustable in a linear fashion thereby, driving a golf ball along a course of play from a short distance, up to the distance of that of conventional clubs. The club head contains a cylinder and silencing chamber with an injection port positioned at one end of the cylinder and directly over the vortex generator armature. The linear distance adjustment is accomplished by means of a vortex-generating armature that eliminates unburned powder and directionally disperses the high-pressure gas. The vortex-generating armature core contains a series of specially designed orifices that allow the high-pressure gas to flow in the exact proportion toward the piston and or the silencing chamber thereby, controlling the amount of kinetic energy applied to the ball.
A critical element of this invention is the unique vortex-generator chamber design, containing exact dimensions and shape. The burning powder from the injection port flows in such a manner, where the shape of the vortex-generator chamber creates a complete burn, regardless of the adjuster setting. Another feature of this invention eliminates a piston, rod, bearing and strike plate assembly, which are prone to failure.
They are replaced with a slotted especially hardened one piece, striker piston, that is moveable inside the diameter of the cylinder. The cylinder walls function as a bearing surface thereby, eliminating a conventional bearing and the need for lubrication. The slotted striker piston contains a urethane spring located in the piston end of the slot that seats against a limit stop pin after the high-pressure discharge. This absorbs the energy and acts as a slotted striker piston brake at the end of the cycle. Other functions of the stop limit pin allows for quick removal, for cleaning and the pin also retains the cylinder to the club head casting. This invention uses a cartridge strip containing a series of cartridges, where a spring-loaded hold-down firing pin assembly seats each cartridge into a firing port. In the head casting, there is a shock reliever ring system to absorb the tremendous shock wave that develops after the high-pressure discharge. The upper portion of the handle grip contains a sleeve connected to a linkage rod that continues through a hollow shaft and firing pin spring, which stores kinetic energy when the sleeve is actuated. The handle portion contains the firing trigger and safety controls that release the kinetic energy, needed to penetrate the rim fire cartridge.
Besides the objectives and advantages described above, to be more specific the objectives advantages of the present invention are:
(a) To provide a unique low cost quiet golf club that is safe, operational, easy to use and easy to manufacture.
(b) To provide a unique golf club containing an absolute clean burning vortex generator, imperative to controlling the linear distance a golf ball travels.
(c) To provide a unique golf club capable of hitting golf balls multiple distances without fouling or jamming.
(d) To provide a unique golf club containing a striker piston made of solid construction.
(e) To provide a unique golf club striker piston design, not requiring a shaft bearing and not requiring lubrication.
(f) To provide a unique golf club striker piston containing a urethane brake.
(g) To provide a unique golf club striker piston containing a hard anodized coating.
(h) To provide a unique golf club embodiment made of aluminum, cast in one piece construction.
(i) To provide a unique golf club that uses existing cartridge strips made by Winchester Industrial Products Company.
(j) To provide a unique golf club containing a safe spring loaded cartridge hold down lever.
(k) To provide a unique golf club containing an easy to read, ball travel distance indicator.
(l) To provide a unique golf club containing an in shaft mounted firing pin spring.
(m) To provide a unique golf club containing an easy to assemble handle assembly.
(n) To provide a unique golf club containing a cylinder made of 17-4 stainless steel other hard material.
(o) To provide a unique golf club containing a removable through stop pin that allows for easy cleaning.
(p) To provide a unique golf club containing a recoil shock wave reliever means.
A typical golf club head casting illustrated in
The side of a golf club head casting 20 has a breech compartment 44 containing a cartridge hold down casting 34. Cartridge hold down casting 34 hinges on cartridge hold down casting 34 hinge pin 32 mounted in cartridge hold down casting hinge pin hole 48 allowing breech 44 to open and close. The shaped heel of golf club head casting 20 separates from golf club 20 and becomes a distance adjuster lever indicator 39 and rotates about an axis limited by distance adjuster lever indicator 39 limit groove 38 and distance adjuster indicator limit pin 164. When distance adjuster lever indicator 39 rotates about an axis toward the end of travel of distance adjuster limit groove 38, distance adjuster indicator 39 kick-out pin 168 engages cartridge hold down casting 34 cartridge hold down handle 30. The continued rotation of distance adjuster kick-out pin 168 extracts cartridge hold down handle 30 allowing an operator to manually open breach 44, for loading cartridge container plastic strip 148 into breach compartment 44. A cartridge container strip 148 enters breach 44 with rim fire cartridge 147 sealing cone seated into cylinder 25 inlet port 152. Cartridge hold down casting 34 contains firing pin 21 and firing pin return spring 23 that rest against spring loaded hold down bar 27 and hinged by hold down bar hinge pin 47. Spring loaded hold down bar 27 is seated against cartridge plastic strip 148 by spring loaded hold down bar 27 hold down bar adjustable seat 61.
Vortex generator armature 169 seats into the combustion-end of cylinder 25 encompassed by cylinder 25 exhaust ports 80, 81, 82, 83, 84 and 85 with vortex generator shaft 69 extending through cylinder 25 stem hole 70. Vortex linear vent ports 86, 87, 88, 89, 90 and 91 seat radically against inside cylinder 25 surface and work in concert with cylinder 25 ports 80, 81, 82, 83, 84- and 85. Vortex generator stem 64 is sealed by cylinder 25 stem hole 70 “0” ring 174. Vortex generator shaft key 50 fits in Vertex generator distance adjuster shaft 39 key slot 173 and into distance adjuster indicator lever key way 176. Thrust washer 58 provides a bearing surface between cylinder 25 hub 79 and retaining nut 59 threaded on to vertex generator shaft 69 threads 62 and locked by lock nut 60 on threads 62. Shock reliever ring 55 is threaded on retaining nut 59. Shock reliever wave spring 56 applies tension between cylinder 25 retainer ring 57 and shock reliever ring 55. Cylinder 25 retainer ring 57 is threaded on to cylinder mounting thread hub 79. The distance adjuster indicator 39 is mounted to shock reliever ring 55 with distance adjuster mounting screws 51, 52, 53, and 54 are threaded into shock reliever mounting ring holes 160, 161, 162 and 163. Cylinder pre-exhaust ports 92, 93, 94, 95, and cylinder exhaust ports 98, 99, 100, 101 are closed off by striker piston bearing surface 109 in the retracted position. Cylinder forward and rear “0” rings 176 and 158 seats in cylinder “0” ring grooves 157 and 177. The cylinder “0” rings 176 and 158 seat against golf club head casting 20 bore 156. The golf club handle assembly 120 contains an upper cocking handle grip cover 115 and lower handle grip cover 116. The lower section of golf club handle 120 contains a firing trigger 134 located in the forward end of lower handle grip 116 and the thumb safety slide 118 toward the rear of lower grip 116. The golf club handle assembly 120 is coupled to a golf club head casting 20 by shaft head coupling 146 mated into handle coupling mounting hole 46 and retained by golf club handle retaining screw 171. The main golf club shaft 136 is mounted to a handle frame hub 150 and retained by golf club shaft mounting screw 143 through shaft mounting screw hole 139 threaded into handle frame screw hole 140. The firing trigger 134 pivots on firing trigger hinge pin 144 in and out of firing trigger housing slot 131. In the center section of handle frame 123 a bridge retainer 133 is formed between firing trigger housing slot 131 and thumb safety slide housing slot 135. The end of thumb safety slide 118 slides under bridge retainer 133. Thumb safety slide 118 is a moving part, sliding in thumb safety housing slot 135. The end of thumb safety slide 118 is forced forward by a spring 130 protruding from thumb safety slide spring hole 151. The opposite end of spring 130 is compressed against the end of thumb safety slide housing slot 135. The bottom side of handle frame 123 provides a firing pin linkage rod housing slot 137 sized to accommodate trigger latching ring 128 and firing pin cocking pawl 124. The forward end of handle frame 123 provides a firing pin linkage rod groove 141 to contain firing pin linkage rod 126.
The slotted smaller diameter of the rear section of handle frame 123 contains a movable handle cocking sleeve 117. Cocking handle retaining clip 125 retains the forward end of cocking handle sleeve 117. The opposite end of cocking handle sleeve 117 provides a cocking handle return spring pin sleeve end 129 and the upper end of handle frame 123 provides a cocking handle return spring pin, handle end, 119. One end of cocking handle return spring 122 is connected to cocking handle return spring pin 129 and to opposite end of cocking handle spring 122 is connected to cocking handle return spring pin, handle end 119. Firing pin linkage rod 126 extends from handle frame 123 through main golf club shaft 136 and firing pin spring 138 to golf club head 20. Firing pin spring 138 is retained on firing pin linkage rod 126 by firing pin retaining ring 127. Firing pin linkage rod 126 has a firing pin hammer 142 attached to the lower end.
With the golf club illustrated in
To load the golf club the user places the golf club handle 120 in a horizontal position with striker piston 110 pointed downward. The user places golf club handle 120 under the left arm and with the golf club head casting 20 being held in the left hand. The user opens the breech compartment 44 by rotating distance adjuster lever indicator 39 outward, thereby engaging and opening cartridge hold down casting handle 30. With cartridge hold down handle 30 fully open to expose cylinder port 152 this will allow cartridge container plastic strip 148 rim fire load sealing cone 149 to be placed into cylinder port 152. By rotating cartridge hold down casting 30 inward closes breach compartment 44. Spring loaded hold down bar 27 engages cartridge container plastic strip 148 thereby forcing cartridge sealing cone 149 into cylinder port 152, thereby creating a sealing action. The distance adjuster lever indicator 39 is positioned on a ball travel scale 29 to the desired range a ball is expected to travel. The golf club handle 120 is placed in an upright position with the golf club head casting adjacent to a golf ball 178. The user places both hands on golf club handle 120 in a conventional manner with the left thumb on thumb safety slide 118 and the right thumb on firing trigger 134.
When the user has aligned the club head casting face 114 with a golf ball 178 and directed toward the selected target, thumb safety slide 118 is pulled upward and held in position, while the firing trigger 134 is being pressed. The end of thumb safety slide 118 moves upward to clear and allow firing trigger 134 to pivot thereby releasing trigger latching ring 128. Firing pin linkage rod 126 is forced downward by kinetic energy stored in compressed firing pin spring 138. Firing pin hammer 142 moves downward and strikes firing pin 21. The pointed end of firing pin 21 penetrates rim fire cartridge 147. The rim fire primer ignites powder in rim fire cartridge 147. The initial burning powder moves the unburned granules in front of a gas flow that enters vortex chamber 154. As shown in
Depending upon the position of vertex generator armature 169 the gas flow is proportionally dispersed with an exact ratio, into cylinder 25 and or into golf club head casting silencing chamber 68. This action allows the high-pressure gas to expand thereby lowering the venting velocity of the gas to an acceptable db level. The maximum distance setting on ball travel distance scale 29 allows the maximum gas flow into cylinder 25 applying full pressure to the piston end of striker piston 110. Pressure is retained on striker piston 110 by striker ring 107. Striker piston 110 slides on striker piston bearing surface 109 a given distance before exposing cylinder pre-exhaust ports 92, 93, 94, 95 and exhaust ports 98, 99, 100, 101 thereby, venting exhaust into a short distance silencing chamber 68. Depending on the position of golf club head casting 20, striker face 110 contacts a ball 178 thereby absorbing most of the kinetic energy generated by the gas pressure. The remaining kinetic energy is absorbed by urethane spring 155 becoming sandwiched between urethane housing 111 and stop pin 26. The user pulls the upper cocking handle grip cover 115 upward and manually presses the striker piston 110 to the retracted position thereby, readying the golf club for the next cycle. When firing pin hammer 142 moves upward in the cocking process firing pin 21 is retracted by firing pin return spring 23.
The person reviewing this invention will clearly see and understand the importance for an invention to function and perform flawlessly in the market place. The scope of this invention far exceeds and improves all prior art by implementing a highly researched and developed Clean Burning Vortex Generator among other ramifications.
This invention provides higher reliability by implementing a 17-4 stainless steel or other stronger material cylinder combined with an especially hard-coated one-piece striker piston and urethane spring to solve the lubrication problem as well as elimination of structural failure. This invention contains a silencing chamber to reduce the db sound level output. Other variations are possible, such as clubs that are multi-colored, manufactured for left-handed people and people of smaller statue and with a laser direction pointer to aid the user in driving a golf ball toward a desired target.
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| Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
| Dec 17 2010 | TAYLOR, ROY | CAMBUCA INDUSTRIES INC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 030382 | /0186 | |
| Jan 08 2016 | TAYLOR, ROY H | CAMBUCA INDUSTRIES INC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 044181 | /0921 | |
| Nov 30 2017 | CAMBUCA INDUSTRIES INC | EZEE GOLF | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 044329 | /0414 | |
| Nov 05 2018 | TAYLOR, ROY H | EZEEGOLF | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 048268 | /0684 |
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